Local News
Three Boston bus routes will continue offering free rides through June, but the program’s future remains uncertain.
MBTA buses parked at Albany Street garage.
Boston will cover the cost of keeping three MBTA bus routes fare-free through the end of June, temporarily extending a four-year pilot program that was due to run out of funding this month, The Boston Globe reported.
Routes 23, 28, and 29 — which run through Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury — have been free since March 2022, when Mayor Michelle Wu launched the initiative using $8 million in federal pandemic relief funds. Wu extended the program for another two years in February 2024, again using federal COVID-19 money to reimburse the MBTA about $340,000 per month through early March.
City officials told the Globe that not all of the previously allocated federal funds have been spent, leaving enough to continue the pilot through June. However, what’s next for the program remains unclear. Wu’s office told the outlet Friday that officials are “discussing the long-term future of the program with the MBTA.”
In a statement announcing the extension, the city said the neighborhoods served by routes 23, 28, and 29 are “key to Boston’s equitable reopening and recovery.”
The three routes connect Mattapan and Ashmont with key Orange Line stations. Route 23 runs along Washington Street through Dorchester to Ruggles, while Route 28 travels via Blue Hill Avenue to Ruggles as well. Route 29 connects Mattapan to Jackson Square.
MBTA General Manager Phil Eng told the Globe the agency has been “pleased to be able to support the City of Boston’s program,” but he did not indicate whether the T would help fund it beyond June.
Wu had previously expressed hope that the pilot’s success would encourage the cash-strapped T to expand fare-free service.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Wu said she has discussed potential funding sources with Gov. Maura Healey’s administration but did not say whether the city plans to include money for the program in its next budget.
“Free bus service is the best capitalist investment that you could make, because every transaction that is being made on that bus plugs directly back into our economy,” Wu said. “We’ll have to see how to make everything fit [in the city’s next budget], and whether there’s a way to come to some shared arrangement that recognizes how valuable the service has been for the MBTA overall.”
Morgan Rousseau is a freelance writer for Boston.com, where she reports on a variety of local and regional news.
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